Appendix D: Scansion and Metre

Scansion is the analysis of poetic rhythm — identifying the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables (in English, German) or long and short syllables (in Latin, Greek).

Why Scansion Matters

Understanding metre helps you: - Read poetry correctly — knowing where stresses fall - Appreciate poetic craft — seeing how poets work within and against patterns - Recognise verse forms — identifying epic, lyric, dramatic metres - Translate poetry — maintaining rhythm across languages

Two Systems of Metre

Part One: English Metre

Basic Concepts

English metre is accentual-syllabic: it counts both the number of syllables and the pattern of stresses.

A foot is typically two or three syllables grouped together as a rhythmic unit. We divide lines into feet (marked with |) to identify the metre. For example, an iamb (◡ –) is one foot; a line of iambic pentameter contains five iambic feet.

Every foot except the spondee contains exactly one stressed syllable — this is the arsis, the beat around which the foot is built.

A note on systems: This guide uses the traditional Greek system, where each foot (except the spondee) has one arsis. Some modern prosodists recognise additional feet with two stresses (molossus, bacchius, cretic, antibacchius, etc.), but the system presented here is simpler and widely accepted for teaching scansion in English, Latin, and Greek.

The Metrical Feet

The effect of a metre depends on how poets deploy these feet. Byron’s The Destruction of Sennacherib uses anapests to suggest the rush of cavalry:

The As-SYR-ian came DOWN like a WOLF on the FOLD

Each line gallops toward its stressed climax. Compare the heavy spondees in Milton’s description of Hell:

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death

Line Lengths

Scanning English Verse: Method

Step 1: Mark naturally stressed syllables (as in normal speech) Step 2: Identify the predominant foot Step 3: Divide into feet Step 4: Note variations from the pattern

Worked Example: Iambic Pentameter

Reading multiple lines helps you feel the rhythm. Here is the opening of Romeo and Juliet:

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Read it aloud and you’ll hear the “ti-TUM ti-TUM” pulse:

  ◡    –    ◡     –     ◡  –    ◡   –   ◡   –
Two HOUSE | holds BOTH | a-LIKE | in DIG | ni-TY

 ◡   –     ◡  –   ◡     –    ◡   –      ◡    –
In FAIR | Ve-RO | na WHERE | we LAY | our SCENE

  ◡    –    ◡    –      –     ◡   –    ◡   –
From AN | cient GRUDGE | break TO | new MU | ti-NY

  ◡    –   ◡    –      ◡    –   ◡    –      ◡   –
Where CI | vil BLOOD | makes CI | vil HANDS | un-CLEAN

Each line has five iambic feet (◡ –) = iambic pentameter.

Note line 3: “break to” inverts the stress (– ◡ instead of ◡ –). This trochaic substitution adds emphasis — the grudge breaks out. Variation within a regular pattern is how poets create interest.

Why Iambic Pentameter?

Shakespeare wrote almost exclusively in iambic pentameter. Why?

• It mirrors natural English speech. English tends to alternate stressed and unstressed syllables, and the iamb (◡ –) captures this rhythm.
• Ten syllables fits a breath. Pentameter (five feet = ten syllables) matches the natural length of a spoken phrase — long enough for a complete thought, short enough to be memorable.
• It has a pulse. The ti-TUM rhythm echoes a heartbeat, giving the verse an underlying life.
• It allows variation. The pattern is regular enough to establish expectation, flexible enough to break for emphasis (as in “break to” above).

Worked Example: Trochaic Tetrameter

Line: Tyger! Tyger! burning bright (Blake)

  –    ◡    –   ◡     –   ◡     –
Ty-ger | Ty-ger | burn-ing | bright

Four trochaic feet = trochaic tetrameter (with the final unstressed syllable omitted — a catalexis)

Common English Metres

Variations and Substitutions

Poets rarely maintain perfect regularity. Common variations include:

Example with Variations

Line: To be, or not to be: that is the question (Hamlet)

  ◡   –     ◡   –    ◡  –     –   ◡   ◡    –   ◡
To be | or not | to be | — that | is the | question

Notes: - Feet 1-3: Regular iambs - Foot 4: Trochee (stressed-unstressed) — a trochaic substitution - Foot 5: Ends with feminine ending (-tion) - Caesura after “be” — marked by the colon

Part Two: Latin and Greek Metre (Quantitative)

The Fundamental Difference

Latin and Greek metre is based on syllable length (quantity), not stress:

What Makes a Syllable Long?

A syllable is long if:

1. It contains a long vowel — ā, ē, ī, ō, ū (marked with macrons)
   • amō = a-mō (◡ –)
2. It contains a diphthong — ae, au, ei, eu, oe, ui
   • causam = cau-sam (– ◡)
3. It ends in a consonant before another consonant (position makes long)
   • factum = fac-tum (– ◡) — the c before t makes fac long

The Dactylic Hexameter

The standard metre of epic poetry (Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey; Virgil’s Aeneid).

Structure:

– ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – x
dactyl   dactyl   dactyl   dactyl   dactyl  spondee/trochee

Rules: - Six feet - Each foot is a dactyl (– ◡ ◡) or spondee (– –) - Fifth foot is almost always a dactyl - Sixth foot is always – x (long + anceps, i.e., long or short)

Scanning Latin Hexameter: Worked Example

Line: Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs (Virgil, Aeneid 1.1)

“Arms and the man I sing, who first from the shores of Troy…”

Step 1: Mark known long vowels (macrons) > Arma virumque canō, Trōiae quī prīmus ab ōrīs

Step 2: Mark position (consonant clusters) > Ar-ma vi-rum-que ca-nō, Trō-iae quī prī-mus ab ō-rīs

Step 3: Determine quantities

Ár-ma vi-rúm-que ca-nṓ | Trṓ-iae quī | prī́-mus ab | ṓ-rīs
 – ◡   ◡  –   –    ◡ –     – –  –      – ◡   ◡    – –

Step 4: Divide into feet

– ◡ ◡ | – –  | – ◡ ◡ | – – | – ◡ ◡ | – –
Ar-ma vi|rum-que |ca-nō Trō|iae quī|prī-mus ab|ō-rīs

Feet: dactyl | spondee | dactyl | spondee | dactyl | spondee

The Elegiac Couplet

Used in elegy and epigram (Ovid, Catullus, Tibullus).

Structure: Hexameter + pentameter

Hexameter:  – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – x
Pentameter: – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | – || – ◡ ◡ | – ◡ ◡ | –
                            (caesura)

Greek Metres

Greek uses the same quantitative principles but with additional patterns.

The Iambic Trimeter

Used in dialogue (drama, especially tragedy):

◡ – | ◡ – | ◡ – || ◡ – | ◡ – | ◡ –

Actually six iambs, but grouped as three metra (pairs).

Lyric Metres

Greek lyric poetry uses complex patterns. Examples:

Part Three: French and Spanish Metre (Syllabic)

Syllable-Counting Systems

French and Spanish poetry counts syllables rather than marking stress patterns.

French Verse

The Alexandrine: - 12 syllables - Caesura after syllable 6 - Pattern: 6 + 6

Although French metre counts syllables rather than stresses, rhythm still matters. Stress falls on the final syllable of each rhythmic group — typically at the caesura (syllable 6) and line end (syllable 12).

Example: Je le vis, je rougis, je pâlis à sa vue (Racine, Phèdre)

“I saw him, I blushed, I turned pale at the sight of him”

                          ↓ caesura            ↓ line end
Je  le  vis,  je  rou- gis, ‖ je  pâ- lis  à  sa  vue
 1   2   3     4   5    6      7   8   9   10  11  12
 u   u   /     u   u    /      u   u   u   u   u   /

The three parallel clauses (je le vis, je rougis, je pâlis) each build to an accented syllable, creating a triple pulse of shock.

Rules for counting: - Silent e (e muet) counts before a consonant, elides before a vowel - Final e at line end does not count - Stress falls on the last full syllable of each phrase

Spanish Verse

The Octosyllable (octosílabo):

The octosyllable is the metre of Spanish ballads (romances) and popular song. Like French, it counts syllables, but Spanish verse also has a rhythmic pulse from word stress.

Example: Opening of a traditional romance:

Que por mayo era, por mayo, cuando hace la calor, cuando los trigos encañan y están los campos en flor.

“It was in May, in May, / when the heat comes, / when the wheat grows tall / and the fields are in flower.”

Que  por  ma- yo͜e- ra,  por  ma- yo
 1    2    3   4    5    6    7   8
 u    u    /   u    u    u    /   u
                              ↑ stress on penultimate

cuan- do͜ha- ce  la  ca- lor
  1    2    3   4   5   6  (+1 = 7, oxytone adds 1)
  u    u    u   u   u   /
                       ↑ stress on final = add 1 syllable

Synalepha: When a word ends with a vowel and the next begins with one, they count as one syllable (mayo era → ma-yo͜e-ra).

Line-end stress adjustment: - If the line ends on a stressed syllable (aguda/oxytone), add 1 to the count - If it ends on an antepenultimate stress (esdrújula/proparoxytone), subtract 1 - The target count (8) assumes penultimate stress (llana/paroxytone)

Part Four: German Metre

German uses accentual-syllabic metre similar to English but with some differences.

Key Features

Common Metres

Example: Goethe

Line: Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh (“Wandrers Nachtlied II”)

Ü-ber | al-len | Gip-feln | ist Ruh
– ◡     – ◡      – ◡        –  –

Trochees with final spondee.

Summary: Scanning Across Languages

Quick Reference: Scansion Symbols

The stressed syllable of a foot is called the arsis (Greek: “lifting”); the unstressed syllable(s) are the thesis (Greek: “placing down”).

Practice Passages

English

Scan these lines:

1. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day (Gray)
2. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more (Shakespeare)
3. Half a league, half a league, half a league onward (Tennyson)

Latin

Scan this hexameter:

Tītyre, tū patulae recubāns sub tegmine fāgī (Virgil, Eclogues 1.1)

French

Count syllables and mark the accented syllables (at caesura and line end):

Waterloo! Waterloo! Waterloo! morne plaine! (Hugo)

Hint: This is an alexandrine (12 syllables). Where does Hugo place the caesura? What effect does the triple repetition create?

Spanish

Count syllables (remembering synalepha and line-end adjustment):

Verde que te quiero verde. (Lorca)

En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme… (Cervantes — prose, but try counting anyway)

Previous: Appendix C: Language Families and Borrowing

Next: Appendix E: Unusual Grammatical Features